Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day, bolstering his lead among American League pitchers in season player rankings.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of July 26:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 22.1 |
| 2 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 19.0 |
| 3 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 17.1 |
| 4 | Wood, Alex 3246 | pi sp | lad nl | 13.0 |
| 5 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 12.4 |
| 6 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 12.4 |
| 7 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 12.4 |
| 8 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 11.4 |
| 9 | Paxton, James 3280 | pi sp | sea al | 11.0 |
| 10 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 10.7 |
Sale struck out 11 over seven scoreless innings, allowing three hits and one walk, in the 4-0 win over the Mariners.
Sale earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 17.1 for the season. He maintains his rank of third place in season Box-Toppers points, behind Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers (22.1) and Max Scherzer of the Nationals (19.0).
Sale bolsters his lead among AL pitchers, now leading second-place AL pitcher Ervin Santana of the Twins (12.4) by 4.7 points, meaning it would take Santana at least three starts to have a chance to catch Sale. Santana has not earned Box-Toppers points since his last Player of the Game honor more than a month ago on June 25.
Sale also now has 103.5 career Box-Toppers points, rising to 68th place among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. With his points Wednesday, he passes three players on the “all-time” list—Giants pitcher Johnny Cueto (101.8), Ken Griffey Jr. (102.2) and Miguel Tejada (102.3). Sale now trails 67th-ranked player Jamie Moyer (104.0).
National League Player of the Day—Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola struck out 10 over six scoreless innings, allowing four hits and one walk, in the 9-0 win over the Astros.
American League Batter of the Day—Eric Hosmer of the Royals hit a grand slam and went 5-for-6, scoring five times and driving in six total runs, in the 16-2 win over the Tigers.
Hosmer had a Box-Toppers game score of +10.0, the fourth-highest game score for a batter earning Player of the Game honors this season.
National League Batter of the Day—Marcell Ozuna of the Marlins tripled and doubled twice, going 3-for-5, scoring four times and driving in five runs, in the 22-10 win over the Rangers.
Top 10 watch—While Sale earned Box-Toppers Player of the Day honors in his start Wednesday, two other players among the top 10 in season Box-Toppers points who started Wednesday, did not earn points:
- Twins pitcher Ervin Santana, ranked seventh with 12.4 Box-Toppers points, did not earn Player of the Game honors in the 6-5 loss to the Dodgers. Santana (6.2IP 7H 4R 0BB 7K ND) had a Box-Toppers game score of -1.8. Player of the Game was Chase Utley of the Dodgers.
- Indians pitcher Carlos Carrasco, ranked eighth with 11.4 Box-Toppers points, did not earn Player of the Game honors in the 10-4 win over the Angels. Carrasco (6.1IP 6H 2R 0BB 5K ND) had a Box-Toppers game score of +1.1. But teammate Bradley Zimmer had the higher Box-Toppers game score of +2.0 to earn Player of the Game honors.
Notable—Bradley Zimmer of the Indians earned Player of the Game honors for the second straight day Wednesday, a day after making his Box-Toppers debut.
Zimmer (HR 2B 2-4 2R 2BI in the 10-4 win over the Angels) made his Box-Toppers debut Tuesday in the 11-7, 11-inning win over the Angels, when he was AL Batter of the Day. He now has 2.5 Box-Toppers points.
Debut—Manuel Margot of the Padres made his Box-Toppers debut Wednesday with his first career Player of the Game honor.
Margot (HR 3B 2-4 2R 2BI in the 6-3 win over the Mets) made his Major League debut Sept. 21, 2016, and was playing in his 78th career game. He is the 3,861st player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Sale earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Nola earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Hosmer and Ozuna each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Wednesday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point.
About Box-Toppers—Box-Toppers tracks who most helps their team win the most games. Using standard box score statistics, Box-Toppers uses a simple formula to determine a Player of the Game for each Major League Baseball game played. That player is the person who contributed most to his team’s win. In regular season games, players earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point for being named Player of the Game and can earn bonus points for being Player of the Day or top player or batter in their league for the day.
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Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score| 7/26 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 14.0 | BOS 4, SEA 0 | Chris Sale (W, 13-4) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 11 | |
| NL | 11.0 | PHI 9, HOU 0 | Aaron Nola (W, 8-6) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10 | |
| BAT | 10.0 | KC 16, DET 2 | Eric Hosmer (1B) | 6 | 5 | 5 | 6 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 9.0 | NYY 9, CIN 5 | Luis Severino (W, 7-4) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 9 | ||
| BAT | 7.0 | MIA 22, TEX 10 | Marcell Ozuna (LF) | 5 | 4 | 3 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 7.0 | SF 2, PIT 1 | Jeff Samardzija (W, 5-11) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | ||
| 6.0 | TB 5, BAL 1 | Alex Cobb (W, 9-6) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 5.0 | `WSH 8, MIL 5 | Gio Gonzalez | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 8 | ||
| 4.0 | CHC 8, CHW 3 | Anthony Rizzo (1B) | 4 | 1 | 3 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 4.0 | ARI 10, ATL 3 | J.D. Martinez (RF) | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | STL 10, COL 5 | Tommy Pham (LF) | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | CLE 10, LAA 4 | Bradley Zimmer (CF) | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | SD 6, NYM 3 | Manuel Margot (CF) | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | LAD 6, MIN 5 | Chase Utley (PH) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | TOR 3, OAK 2 | Justin Smoak (1B) | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
AL—Overall American League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box-Toppers points.
NL—Overall National League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box-Toppers points.
BAT—Top AL or NL Batter of the Day, worth 1.5 total Box-Toppers points.
All other players listed here earn Player of the Game honors, worth 1.0 Box-Toppers point.
` Pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.
Box-Toppers point totals of the day’s top players
Here are Box-Toppers point totals of each of the Players of the Game. Players are ranked by their Box-Toppers point total for the current season (’17). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (’16-17), the period 2012-2017 (’12-17) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2017 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2016 total (+/-).| Player of the Game | Pos | Team | ’17 | ’16-17 | ’12-17 | Career | +/- |
| Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 17.1 | 30.5 | 98.5 | 103.5 | 3.7 |
| Severino, Luis 3567 | pi sp | nyy al | 9.7 | 11.7 | 14.7 | 14.7 | 7.7 |
| Nola, Aaron 3569 | pi sp | phi nl | 9.1 | 15.8 | 17.8 | 17.8 | 2.4 |
| Samardzija, Jeff 2495 | pi sp | sf nl | 7.0 | 17.7 | 53.8 | 56.8 | -3.7 |
| Smoak, Justin 2731 | 1b | tor al | 6.5 | 10.0 | 23.2 | 29.4 | 3.0 |
| Cobb, Alex 2916 | pi sp | tb al | 6.4 | 6.4 | 36.8 | 37.8 | 6.4 |
| Rizzo, Anthony 3063 | 1b | chi nl | 5.5 | 8.5 | 32.5 | 32.5 | 2.5 |
| Ozuna, Marcell 3190 | lf | fla nl | 5.2 | 10.2 | 23.7 | 23.7 | 0.2 |
| Hosmer, Eric 2886 | 1b | kc al | 5.0 | 13.5 | 33.5 | 36.0 | -3.5 |
| Pham, Thomas 3596 | lf | stl nl | 4.5 | 6.0 | 7.5 | 7.5 | 3.0 |
| Gonzalez, Gio 2626 | pi sp | dc nl | 4.0 | 10.0 | 61.1 | 90.5 | -2.0 |
| Martinez, J.D. 2922 | rf | ari nl | 3.5 | 9.0 | 18.7 | 20.7 | -2.0 |
| Utley, Chase 1861 | 2b 1b ph | lad nl | 3.0 | 4.0 | 15.0 | 76.1 | 2.0 |
| Zimmer, Bradley 3858 | cf | cle al | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 |
| Margot, Manuel 3861 | cf | sd nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |